July 20, 2005
Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Beth Hagenauer
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.
Phone: 661/276-3449
RELEASE: 05-50
NASA'S ER-2 FLIES OVER HURRICANE EMILY'S EYE
As Hurricane Emily lashes the coast of northeastern Mexico and
southern Texas, a high-flying NASA ER-2 earth sciences aircraft from
the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.,
flew high over the storm as it moved across the Caribbean Sea to the
Gulf of Mexico.
On Sunday, July 17, the aircraft collected data during an eight-hour
flight over Hurricane Emily. The hurricane is a powerful storm that
has already caused extensive damage in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Flying at 65,000 feet, the ER-2 completed two passes over the eye of
Emily, one of the most violent storms the NASA aircraft and pilot
David Wright have ever experienced. Earlier in the month, the NASA
aircraft and two P-3 aircraft operated by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had flown numerous missions over
Hurricane Dennis.
"Hurricane Dennis was much kinder," said Wright after Sunday's flight.
"Emily just didn't want me around."
A team of atmospheric scientists, engineers and aircraft personnel
have taken up residence in San Jose, Costa Rica, during July studying
how tropical storms become hurricanes during the Tropical Cloud
Systems and Processes (TCSP) mission. The NASA team is working with
NOAA and Costa Rican Centro Nacional de Alta Tecnologia (CENAT).
The TCSP team is conducting ground-based and airborne studies to
measure the buildup and behavior of tropical storm systems on Costa
Rica's east and west coasts. The airborne experiments are collecting
temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind information related to
tropical cyclones and other phenomena that often lead to development
of more powerful storms at sea. The field operations are also taking
advantage of several NASA and NOAA satellites.
The aircraft and scientists have been tracking Emily since July 16
using some of the most sophisticated high-flying and ground-based
weather research equipment.
"Instruments onboard the ER-2 recorded unprecedented detail of the
hurricane vertical structure and precipitation levels," stated Jeff
Halverson, TCSP deputy project manager from the NASA Goddard Space
Center, Greenbelt, Md. "This was a very successful and interesting
flight for the ER-2."
The eye-wall clouds powering Emily were extremely energetic and deep.
Instruments carried by the ER-2 detected large amounts of lightning
and thunderclouds rising to approximately 60,000 feet.
In addition to NASA Dryden, four other NASA centers and 10 American
universities are partnering in the study.
For more information about TCSP, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/hurricane_2005.html
http://tcsp.nsstc.nasa.gov/tcsp/
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/
Photo of NASA's ER-2 are available at:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/ER-2/index.html
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